SPRINGDALE — Pressure's on.
Temple Shalom, 28 years in the making, is set to open in days, and the money's run out. Time's running down, and the good guys need to rally. Here comes a man who knows something about that.
Former UA basketball Coach Nolan Richardson was the surprise keynote speaker at the second annual Faith to Faith gala held by the Temple Shalom congregation to raise money for the $1.2 million temple. Just as he would in a timeout, Richardson didn't equivocate.
"The difference between reality and perception?" the coach asked, rhetorically. "We have people with all kinds of money in this room - that's the perception. The reality is they haven't taken it out of their pocketbooks.
"We are in this together. If it is to be, it is up to me. What is happening here today or tomorrow ... is up to each and every one of us."
Nearly 200 Jews, Christians and Muslims gathered at First United Methodist Church on Sept. 13 to break bread and share the burden of raising a building so many years in the making.In all, the event netted perhaps $40,000. On the heels of Richardson's challenge, fundraising dervish Dick Trammel made a direct appeal for funds that prompted 80 people and families to donate $75 each - or about $6,000 - on top of the $100 ticket price.
Guests ate cheese-andcracker hors d'oeuvres followed by a vegetarian meal prepared by the Greenhouse Grille. Along with other presentations, they watched an evocative documentary by Hayot Tuychiev that juxtaposed footage of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War against the combined efforts today of area Jews like Joe Ratner and Jeremy Hess and Palestine native Fadil Bayyarito erect the temple.
Northwest Profile, Pages 42 on 09/20/2009